Traders 'priced out' of £12,000 Christmas market pitches

Image source, Anthony GriceImage caption,

Anthony Grice wanted to sell hot chocolate and cakes at the market, but said the £12,000 he was quoted for a stall was too high

ByClaire HamiltonPolitical Reporter Merseyside

Published20 minutes ago

Traders claim they have been priced out of this year's Christmas market.

They have told Liverpool City Council leader Liam Robinson that they cannot afford to take space at the event now that a new operator has taken over running it.

Anthony Grice said he had been quoted £12,000 to take a stall at the St George's Plateau attraction.

Robinson said he had met business owners to "understand the challenges and the issues that they might have had this year" so the authority could look at different options in future.

He said the council had been aware of the price structure being offered to traders by the new operator, Underbelly, when it won the contract to run the event.

And he added that the council would get a share of some of the income.

But Grice said it felt like local traders' concerns were being "swept under the carpet" during a meeting to discuss the plans.

He said: "I asked how many local traders had signed up, and the council didn't know".

He added: "These markets should be a chance to showcase the best of what you've got, but not having the 'Scouse soul' there is so annoying.

"Aren't our people good enough?"

An artists impression of a Christmas market outside Liverpool's famous St Georges Hall. The centrepiece is an ice rink hung with twinkling fairy lights, and you can see a crowd of people watching on.

Image source, Liverpool city councilImage caption,

Artists impression of how the new Christmas market might look

Jeweller Alex Healy, from Gateacre, rang a BBC Radio Merseyside phone-in to tell Robinson that she would not be returning to the market this year, despite having been a trader at previous markets since 2021.

She said "It would cost me in the region of £14,000 to £15,000. I have the smallest hut available, but that price I physically cannot afford it."

She said she was acutely aware of the cost-of-living crisis facing her customers, adding: "I don't want to raise my prices. I shouldn't have to."

Robinson said he wanted entrepreneurs like Healy to succeed and invited her to meet him to look at ways the council could support her business.

He added Underbelly had won the tender to run the market "on quality and price" and had a "track record of delivering these markets successfully in lots of other places across the country".

A selfie of a blonde woman wearing glasses and bright pink lipstick. She's standing in front of a jewellery stall which is filled with bracelets, earrings and necklaces.

Image source, Alex HealyImage caption,

Jeweller Alex Healy said she would not be returning to the market

Underbelly has been contacted for comment.

The leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition group on the council, Carl Cashman, said £14,000 was "a rip-off".

He added: "Small businesses are feeling the pinch at the moment, with rising business rates, inflation, and payroll costs, and consumers spending less.

"So £14,000 is just a risk too big for them to take, and the market won't be as good for it."

A Liverpool city council spokesperson said local traders would be able to sell artisan goods at a street market on Basnett Street running on each Saturday in November, plus at regular and pop-up markets in Lark Lane and Woolton Village in the run-up to Christmas.